The present invention pertains to an upholstery system and particularly to an upholstery system for use in connection with a vehicle armrest.
There exists a variety of manners in which upholstery can be trimmed out in a vehicle to provide a clean appearing end product. In the past it has been common to glue and/or staple edges of upholstery tucked around a corner of a panel so as not to expose the edge of the material. In some applications, however, such as covered armrests, when the cover is opened, the free ends of the fabric are exposed and are unsightly when simply glued or otherwise fastened to the cover. U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,946 discloses a visor with an upholstery trim system in which flaps of material are compressively captured between the edges of a clam shell type visor. This general approach has also been employed for an armrest as disclosed in a continuation-in-part application of the above patent Ser. No. 184,957, filed Apr. 22, 1988 and entitled VEHICLE ARMREST.
In order to provide a finished appearance to an article such as an armrest and in particular a covered armrest therefore, it is desired to provide an upholstery system in which both a neat trim appearance is provided and one which is not expensive either in cost of labor in upholstering the product or parts employed.